Congressman Helps Indigents Together with DSWD
April 18, 2015
BAGUIO Rep. Nicasio M. Aliping Jr. has assisted over a thousand indigent constituents with a roll out of more than P13 million from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program.
The AICS is a little known program of the DSWD to help defray the cost of emergency situations which indigents can avail. A maximum of P5,000 per individual can be availed of by the recipient. Beneficiaries have been given financial assistance to pay for a myriad of crises including burial assistance, hospitalization aid, educational support, and transportation help.
“Although there is maximum amount which can be disbursed, we make sure to carefully assess the crisis of the beneficiary so we can recommend a higher amount to be released by the DSWD,” Rep. Aliping said.
He added, “We make sure that we not only help pass quality laws for the entire country, but we also help our indigent residents of Baguio access financial assistance from government to directly assist them in their crisis.”
Last year, 1,774 locals took advantage of the AICS through the referral and assistance of Rep. Aliping and the congressional staff at the Baguio City Hall office.
A total of P13,024,029 have been disbursed to the beneficiaries referred by Rep. Aliping in 2014 alone.
“We hope to help more of our constituents through this program so that they can feel directly how government is taking care of them,” he added.
Majority of the financial assistance sought under the AICS allotment of Rep. Aliping come in the form of medical assistance, burial assistance and educational support.
“Even though the Supreme Court found the PDAF to be unconstitutional, there are a number of government funded assistance programs we can access to directly help our constituents. We can only hope to increase this amount next year so more of our poor constituents can be helped,” Rep. Aliping stressed./Carl C. Taawan
